Welsh Laver Seaweed Butter with Seasoning (Welsh Sea Black Butter)

Welsh Sea Black Butter is laverbread mixed with Welsh Salted butter and little bit sea salt. Laverbread the culinary DNA of Wales, a food icon and one of the food wonders of the world. Versatile and nutritious, it’s one of Wales’s greatest treasures, with a history that goes back for centuries. We have mixed it with butter so you can cook amazing food at home.

** FRESH FROZEN PRODUCT **

Ingredients: Butter, Laver Seaweed

Allergens: Butter (dairy) , Cannot guarantee crustacean and mollusc free.

Storage: Sold frozen in a glass jar. Use within 10 days of receipt. Keep in fridge.

What is it?

Despite its name, Laverbread is not a type of bread at all, it is a puree which is made from laver seaweed that has been slowly simmered for several hours. Laverbread is the cooked version of ‘laver’ – porphyra seaweed – a diaphanous red algae found abundantly along Wales’s rocky coastline.

This laver seaweed is hand gathered in a sustainable manner from the UK coastline and then washed several times to remove all the sand, molluscs, and any crustaceans. It is then slowly cooked for several hours before being blended into a gluey puree.

We then mix this with melted Welsh Organic butter and mix so it slowly as it cools which then combines into one of the most flavoursome butters that you would ever try.

What does it taste like?

I simply love eating good food, and laverbread has this innate ability to make everything taste good. Maybe it’s what the Japanese call "Unami” which means "essence of deliciousness" and is one of the core tastes including Sweet, Sour, Bitter, Savoury and Salty.

Mixing the laverbread with the Welsh Salted butter creates a creamy rich Olive Mariney flavour which becomes very additive.

Nutritional Information

Laver, the king of seaweed superfoods

"Laver seaweed contains more vitamins and minerals than any land-based vegetable". 

"Gram for gram, Laver contains more protein than chicken."

"Laver contains 10x as much vitamin A as spinach and 4x times as much vitamin C as apples”.

Laverbread is rich in potassium, manganese, iron, calcium, and protein. The level of protein is the highest of all the seaweeds and said it can be between 30 - 50% protein. I found this percentage staggering and didn't quite believe it so I've been sending a sample of dried laver to the labs every month for a year to monitor protein levels and how they change according to the seasons: On average per 100g sample, dried laver holds 35% protein, which is amazing, this means, gram for gram, Laver contains more protein than chicken.

In addition, Laverbread is a powerhouse of vitamins and amino acids and has particularly high concentrations of Vitamin A, B2, B9, and C. Amino acids are essential for muscle development and strength. Vitamin A is important for the immune system and helps support bone health and eye health. Vitamin B9 is important in red blood cell formation and healthy cell growth. Vitamin C helps boost antioxidant levels, lower blood pressure and helps the body repair itself.

“Out of all the seaweeds Laver is the healthiest, it’s the king of all the seaweeds”.

Ole G.Mouritsen

How to use it

For the first time, simply spread it onto hot toast to really appreciate the flavour.

From then on experiment away. My personal favourites and my pure guilty pleasure is a hot white roll with Welsh Sea Black Butter and smoky crispy bacon and a dollop of Mor Ketchup. If I’m really treating my self then I would add an egg, laverbread patty, cheese and pickles to the mix for the ultimate breakfast.

For the kids I put it on their beans on toast, jacket potatoes or mix it with freshly cooked pasta and a sprinkle of cheese.

For weekend dinner treats I love cooking it with risotto rice and roasted butternut squash. Or try melting it in a pan with a couple of diced spring onions, a few crushed garlic cloves, 1 chopped red chilli, 200g of fresh crab meat, a handful of fresh parsley and handful of grated parmesan with around 200g of freshly cook linguine pasta.

The back story to Welsh Sea Black Butter

Welsh Sea Black Butter was invented on our multi award winning flag ship Café Mor - the first fishing boat, solar powered, seaweed kitchen in the world. It was the first thing we did, ever. The reason was flavour, but it also helped breakdown the door for those who might be a little squeamish with laverbread.

Welsh Seaweed Black Butter is a staple. We cook our lobster in it, our crab, pan fry fish with it and liberally spread it on our burger and bacon butties, veggie burgers. We have even made seaweed butter caramel out of it to pour on top of our brownies. It is such an integral part of our menu it is basically Café Mor in a jar.

Café Mor started life in 2010 at local farmers markets on my mums 1970s tablecloth and went on to win best street food in the UK twice and then one of 80 Lonely Planets must visit food trucks around the world and selected to cater for the athletes at the London Olympic games in 2012.

Farmers markets turned to Glastonbury music festival then turned into the famous fishing boat where it has been anchored at Freshwater West beach for the past several years. It is now located at The Old Point House in Angle Bay, Pembrokeshire.

If you are ever in the area come and say hi!